System of school-desks



S L. WILKINSON.

SCHOOL DESK.

No. 30,102. Patented Sept. 18, 1860.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SETH L. WILKINSON, OF CROSS PLAINS, TENNESSEE.

SYSTEM OF SCHOOL-DESKS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 80,102, dated September 18, 1860.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SETH L. lVILKINsoN, of Cross Plains, in the countyof Robertson and State of Tennessee, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in School- Desks; and I do hereby declare that the followingis a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, inwhich a perspective view of a school desk constructed after my inventionis represented.

The nature of my invention consists in so constructing and arranging thedesks of a school room, that the desk of each scholar shall be at rightangles to his seat, and the bottom of the desk be on nearly the samehorizontal plane, the former being attached to the back of a contiguousseat, substantially as hereinafter described.

To enable others, skilled in the art, to make and use my invention, Iwill proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A, A, represent two benches or seats made in the style of pew seats, anda series or row of these seats is placed one in front of the other andso extended to as great a distance as may be desirable. Between thefront side of the back of seat A, and the back side of the back of seatA, two horizontal boards a, Z), are placed, the one 6, resting on thebottom 0, of the seat and the one a, being secured at or near the topsof the backs of the benches and serving as a desk for writing, &c., thespace between the two being a convenient place of deposit for the books,stationery and other articles necessary in a school room. The uppersurface of the deskis on a level with the top of the side cl, of thebench and answers a good purpose for the arm of the student and therebyconduces to an erect posture during the time of study.

The desk, as constructed above, affords many advantages over all desksnow in use, it enabling the student to sit with his right side to thedesk, which posture is the most natural and convenient and is consideredby many teachers of writing to be the best. The seat is constructed soas to have room for only one student and thereby prevents, in a greatdegree, talking and the co1n1nunication of the students with each other,be-

cause if one wishes to talk with another, he

must of necessity turn himself around, thereby running a greater risk ofdetection by the teacher.

With this desk, there is in consequence of each student having his deskto himself, less liability of interruption by his neighbor.

lhis desk and seat take up less room than many other desks and seats inuse; for it is not necessary to make the desk any longer than the usualspace between two plain benches, and at the same time it affords everyconvenience for the deposition and abstraction of articles without itbeing necessary to take such an awkward and distorted position as whenthe desk is in front of the bench. It also conduces in a great degree toan erect posture, for the student cannot lean over it and thus acquirestooping or rounding shoulders.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is-Connecting a series of seats A A in a school room by means of boards a,Z), running at right angles to the seatsin the manner and for thepurposes herein described.

S. L. WVILKINSON.

Witnesses:

J NO. C. PATTERSON, EDWARD OELRICH.

